1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing method and an image processing apparatus for automatically setting an image processing condition for an object included in an image.
2. Description of the Related Art
If the kind of image which is included in image information obtained by a digital camera or the like can be recognized, image classification, image search, or image processing can be carried out according to the type of an object included in an image.
For example, in the case of image classification or image search, an image search system has been proposed for judging similarity according to a physical characteristic included in an image. More specifically, a method of image classification and search is known wherein an area of an image is extracted and compared with a reference image while being changed in size and position. Furthermore, based on the method described above, a method of efficiently carrying out image classification and image search is also known wherein a color histogram of an area extracted from an image is compared with a color histogram of a reference image so that a position of an object in the image is detected (The Transactions of The Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers, Vol. J81-DII, No. 9, pp. 2035-2042, 1998, for example). However, in any of the above-described methods, similarity is recognized by the physical characteristic. Therefore, two objects of different types are judged to be similar in some cases, due to similarity in the physical characteristic. Consequently, accuracy of the search is not high.
In the case of image processing, a method of carrying out image processing for high quality is known wherein different image processing is carried out on a specific color area recognized in an image (Japanese Patent Publication No. 5(1993)-62879, for example). This method enables removal of noise by recognizing an area that tends to have a conspicuous noise component, based on a color. However, since the area is recognized from the color alone, skin may be confused with sand. If an area of sand is mistaken as an area of skin and the noise reduction is carried out on the area of sand, the texture of the image may be ruined and the image may thus become unnatural.
In the case where image classification, image search, or image processing is carried out based on information obtained directly from an image, appropriate information cannot be provided to a user. As a method of solving this problem, image classification, image search, or image processing may be carried out after recognizing the type of an object in an image. If the type is recognized in advance, image classification and image search can be carried out according to the type that has been recognized, which leads to easy and accurate image classification and image search. In the case of image processing, image processing can be carried out by using an image processing condition in accordance with the object.
The types of objects included in an image need to be recognized by extracting object regions in the image and by recognizing the types for all the objects. For example, a user may extract an object region in an image and input the type thereof while viewing the image. However, it is a time-consuming operation for the user to extract information on the type.